Enthrall Him (Enthrall Sessions Book 3) (7 page)

I giggled and then remembered why we were here. “I messed up.”

Shay lay on the bed and stretched his long legs out, with his boots still on. “No you didn’t.”

“I’ve never heard of anything like this,” I said. “I’m out of my depth.”

“Once you enter this world, you see the influence money has. I’m like you, Mia. I come from a very humble background. The military paid for my education in software engineering. And I repaid their kindness by giving them six years of my life in the Middle East.”

“Do you regret it?”

“Hell no.”

My thoughts flashed back to Shay directing that hose on me in the white tiled room. He’d used that water pressure to punish me every time I failed to respond to Cameron’s commands quick enough. An erotic scene of subservience back at Chrysalis that I’d failed at miserably, yet won out anyway. Cameron had found my rebellion endearing, apparently.

“Had I known you had special skills,” I said, “I would never have attacked you in the water room.”

“Shows what I know about human nature,” he said with a cheeky grin. “I thought you were coming over to kiss me.”

“You could have stopped me.” I laughed. “You’re strong.”

“That room is actually about you discovering your power, Mia.”

I leaned up. “How exactly?”

“Had I touched you, I’d have compromised your power. I tried to dodge your knee, but I wasn’t fast enough.”

“You let me attack you?”

“I moved away. I’m not a total masochist.”

“How did you meet your submissive, Arianna?”

He grinned. “It was the day of my interview at Chrysalis. Cameron was called away to work and left halfway through my interview. Looking back, it was probably staged.”

“Why do say that?”

“He invited me to tour Chrysalis. I took him up on his offer.”

“He let you wander off alone?”

Shay arched a brow. “It was a test.”

“To see how you felt about the lifestyle?”

“To see if I told anyone afterward.”

“How would he know?”

“He’d have known,” said Shay. “Halfway down the east hallway and there she was, Arianna, handcuffed to the top of an alcove, conveniently naked, and just my type. Fuck me if she wasn’t the most incredible woman I’d ever seen. She had ink that made her body look like a piece of art. The first words out of her mouth were, “
What the fuck are you staring at?”
 

“What did you say to her?”

“Considering this was my first time visiting a club of this sort, I handled her pretty well.”

I sat up, riveted.

“I recited a poem to her.” Shay stared off. “Arianna lowered her head in a bow. Didn’t say another word.” He looked over at me. “My cock had never been so hard. All I wanted to do was take her.”

“Did you?”

“Not that day, but the following week when I relayed the story to Cameron he gifted her to me.” Shay chuckled. “Bastard had my balls in a psychological vice. All I could think about was that vision of her strung up. I was too far gone not to accept the job. Arianna was my first sub. Cameron taught me everything I needed to know so I could handle such a live wire. The rest is history. I’ve been a loyal employee ever since, and Arianna and I have been together five years.”

“You fell into the lifestyle.”

“Arianna is the lifestyle.”  

“And she doesn’t mind you having an open relationship?” I asked.

After all, I’d witnessed him in a threesome that first time I’d toured Chrysalis’s secret rooms with Cameron. That ménage a trois Shay had starred in left me breathless.

Shay lowered his eyelids. “We’re both bi, so we’re a good fit.”

“What was it like being bi in the military?”  

“No one knew.”

I remembered Cameron telling me they’d first met in Surrey. “Was Cameron playing polo too the first time you met?”

“He was playing polo that day, yes.” Shay looked over at me. “We knew each other before that.”

I frowned at him.

“We met in Afghanistan.”

I wondered why Cameron had told a white lie. “Why was he in Afghanistan?”

Shay snapped his head round to look at me. “Looks like you two don’t do much talking.”

“We talk,” I said. “He’s just reluctant to open up.”

“I’ll let Cole tell you. I am, after all, head of his security.”

“Was Cameron a Navy SEAL?”

Shay looked amused. “Nice try, Mia.”

I lay down and rolled onto my side to look at him, resting my head on my palm. “He doesn’t strike me as the kind of man to wear a uniform.”

“Oh, and what kind of man is that?”

“You know, like you, rugged and…” This was not going well and I cursed myself for starting this.

“And?”

“I can’t ever see Cameron shaving his head.”

He burst out laughing. “He does have a knack for always looking suave. Even with bullets flying over his head he didn’t have a hair out of place.”

“Was he a SEAL?”

“Civilian consultant,” he said. “Cole possesses the kind of smart that generals seek out when every other plan fails.”

As if Cameron couldn’t be more superhero material.

My eyes widened. “They flew him out there to help with the war?”

“My team was on a rescue mission,” he said. “The prisoner possessed vital intel that we needed upon his extraction.”

“Did you get your guy out?”

“We did.”

“And Cameron got the intel you needed?”

“No more questions, missy. The details are classified.”

I had a new mission of my own: to get Cameron to open up about his foreign adventures with Shay. There were always layers of Cameron yet to be peeled away, and I had a feeling it would take years to get to his core. Time was running out and I knew I’d never get the chance to be that close to him again.

I wondered where he was now. What he was doing. Who he was with.

He also owned a club in London. I remembered him telling me that during my first weeks at Enthrall. Perhaps he’d gone to pay the place a visit. Check up on his elite society of gorgeous Brits who lived on the edge. Push the boundaries of pain and pleasure.

My teeth embedded in my jealous mouth.

Maybe right now he was surrounded by willing subs all seeking him out as the master extraordinaire. He was, after all, a free agent.

Shay snapped me from my melancholy. “Cameron offered me a job while we were in Afghanistan. He knew I was bi. He has a knack for reading people.”

“But he’s not bi?”

“Tell me about it,” said Shay.

“Pity he didn’t read Lance.”

“He did.”

“Do you like working for him?”

“Cole’s an awesome boss. He’s loyal to a fault. He pays well. Feeds us. Protects us. Gets us on the best medical plans. And he’s always there for us.”

“He must have one fault,” I said. “He can’t be this perfect.”

“He does Mia, but if you can’t see it, I’m not going to be the one to point it out.”

I raised myself onto my elbow. “What do you mean?”

He stared at me, his frown deepening. “He has an Achilles heel and Lance knows what it is.”

“I wish Lance would find another way to make a point.”

Shay scoffed.

“I try to be a good submissive. It’s hard sometimes. My mouth runs off and the next thing I know I’m getting spanked.” My cheeks flushed.

Shay waved his hand. “Let’s not go there.”

“Am I really in danger?”

He looked at me through lowered lashes. “What Lance wants Lance gets.”

“If he comes after me, isn’t it kidnapping?”

“Merrill’s manipulative. He’ll convince you there’s no other way but his. We’re going to keep you safe until we can get through to him. Or come up with a superior plan to his.”

“Do you think Richard’s safe?”

“Sure. As long as he keeps his cool.”

Richard could be a hot head, and it made me wonder if he was the best choice to negotiate with Lance.

“This is about power, Mia.”

“I feel so powerless.” And I missed Cameron so much.

“Don’t underestimate Cole’s power,” said Shay. “He’s mentally superior and easily more psychologically agile, and way more connected than Lance. He’s equal to him on all fronts and a lot more dangerous.”

“How is Cameron dangerous?”  

“You’ve not seen him go to war before have you?”

“No. Never.”

Shay grinned up at the ceiling. “Cameron’s the equivalent of a drone strike. You won’t see him coming and you won’t survive him.”

“He’s not going to kill him?” I said. “Tell me he won’t.”

Shay lay back onto the bed. “There’s a bathroom through there. You go first.”

“Shay?”

He pushed himself up onto his elbows. “No, but he’s quite capable of publically eviscerating his enemies. Trust me, after he’s finished with him, Lance will wish he were dead.”

CHAPTER 5

HER BEAUTIFUL FACE stared back.

The painting was so realistic it felt like the young woman was holding my gaze. Reading the gallery’s summary, she had lived a remarkable life, becoming a muse for the artist who painted her and the lover of a wealthy aristocrat who’d warmly accepted her illegitimate child. Her realism was hypnotic.  

Breaking from this trance, I realized Shay had wandered off. He too was probably distracted by one of the other paintings here in the Tate Modern.

The place was amazing, and even had paintings by William Blake. I may have been a troglodyte when it came to art, but I knew who he was. It took all my will not to touch the canvas and get us thrown out. Shay and I had taken our time to admire each of Blake’s paintings. Apparently Shay also knew a thing or two about art.

“Time with Cameron rubs off,” he’d told me.

I missed Cameron, and Shay’s unwillingness to share what the plan was caused waves of uncertainty. I wanted to let both Cameron and Shay see I was able to cope with whatever was thrown at me. Not cause them more concern, or to doubt my ability to endure this problem I’d essentially created.

Last night I’d fallen asleep in that pokey room in the officer’s club, feeling safe with Shay sleeping in the bed beside mine. I’d enjoyed getting to know him. I could see why Cameron had hired him and now counted Shay as one of his closest friends. Shay’s earthiness, his sense of adventure, and his patience were contagious.

This morning, Ned had delivered coffee and bagels with cheese and cucumber to our room in true British hospitality. To my relief, he’d also bought a small suitcase containing fresh underwear, jeans, a blue satin blouse, and Ugg boots.

Cameron had thought of everything. There, tucked inside the case, was my Hello Kitty makeup bag, and inside it my contraceptive pills. I breathed a sigh of relief when I popped a tablet and took a sip of fresh roasted coffee to wash it down.

After a shower, a tussle of my hair with my comb, a flick of mascara and a dab of lipstick, I started to feel a little better.

Ned had driven Shay and I here to the Tate Modern in his Rover, with me sitting in the back staring out at the view and Shay in the passenger seat chatting about everything from politics to old military life. There was no mention of our current drama.

How quickly a life can spiral. I felt deserted and lost.

That pretty girl in the painting must have lived so simply. No technology, no one hunting her down, her serene expression revealing the kind of peace I coveted.

The shores of Malibu seemed so far away.

“Do you know why the subject in the painting makes eye contact with you?” His voice was deep and cultured.

Cameron stood behind me.

Tingles in my chest spiraled as I continued to stare at the painting.  

“The artist is enticing you into their world,” he said.

Silence lingered.

“Mia,” he whispered.

Shay’s words found me again. Something about Cameron being the equivalent to a drone strike you’d never survive.

Or ever see coming.  

Braving to turn, I blinked up at him, letting out a sigh of relief. Cameron was dressed in a suit and waistcoat, the cut pure perfection, as was his ruffled hair. He oozed European sophistication. That five o’clock shadow revealed he’d not shaved since I’d left him last night.

His warm chestnut gaze held mine.

I wanted to ask him where he’d been. Why he’d left me alone with Shay.

His fiery eyes revealed so little. An expression he held when around me--stern, controlling.

“Have you seen enough?” he said.

“Yes, thank you.” Scanning the room for Shay, I didn’t see him.